Monday, November 28, 2011

A Great Thanksgiving Weekend

The past weekend was full!  Faith had her best friend Bii spend the night for her first sleepover.  Charlie had a lot of fun too!  The kids camped out in living room in sleeping bags.  They fell asleep after playing a bunch of board games, watching Toy Story 3 and eating bomb pops!


He's here for the party!

Best buds!

Silly silly stuff!
     Then on Sunday my husband and I took our two babies to see the Disney on Ice show at Wells Fargo Arena!  It's kind of a tradition, last year was a total princess show, but this year they mixed it up, Lion King, Princesses, Peter Pan, it was great!  Charlie was focused on the show the entire time and Faith's eyes were popping out of her head!  Another year, another fantastic show!  I would highly recommend taking your little ones to see the show!
Wells Fargo Arena!!!

Peter Pan flying overhead!

Jasmin does not look impressed by Prince Ali!


Faith's favorite! She was singing "At Last I See the Light"
 and knew every word!


Showing daddy the coloring book she
bought at the gift store!


Princesses, another favorite of Faith's! It was
 non stop, daddy, mommy look!


Saturday, November 26, 2011

How was your Thanksgiving?


Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!
My plate!  One last picture before I dig in!
How was your Thanksgiving?  Mine was fun and full of family!  It was great to see my Grandmother and Uncle Jon at dinner and my Uncle Mike stopped by later!  The turkey was amazing and my mom made fantastic sides!
My mouth is watering looking at these pictures again!

Tasty!
The shrimp went fast!
Charlie and daddy on our way to the park!


These kids are having so much fun!!




Getting ready to go to the park in style!

I was getting really excited to eat!  I went a bit camera happy!
Do you see my dog Sammie?

I am thankful for my babies, I wouldn't be the woman I am today without them.  I am thankful for my husband and the love we have for one another.  I am thankful for my family; my mother, my father, my brothers, aunt, uncles, cousins, grandparents, all of them.  I am thankful for the love they feel for me and the love I feel for them.  There is so much I can't even name it all, but I am thankful!
Mama's girl!


Handsome guy!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Holiday Craft Ideas

Here's what I've been making with my husband and kids so far this holiday season!

November 7, 2011:
I know it's a little late for this, but I wanted to share the cute painting I made with my kids for Halloween.  I was shocked that my 1 year old sat there and let me paint his hand and foot without getting up.


For this Snowflake Door hanger you will need:
Snowflake Door Hanger
  • jumbo popsicle sticks
  • white paint
  • silver glitter glue
  • round wooden discs
  • glue gun
  • glue
  • colorful ribbon


We actually ran out of round wooden discs so I found some Mardi Gras medallions from when my parents lived in New Orleans.  Odd, but they work!

Here is the size of the snowflake compared
to my five year old!



Mardi Gras in the winter?! Yeah, it works!

Halloween....late!

Although it was a week ago I feel the need to post our Halloween stuff!


    Faith is in Kindergarten this year, and I swear my daughter goes to one of the last few elementary schools in the country that allows food that was baked at home.  Thus, I didn't want to miss the chance to wow the class with my baking skills.  Basically, we baked premade chocolate chip cookies and just made fancy mummies premade icing.  Looks pretty good I would say!  Faith had a blast at her class Halloween party.  All of the parents made the party special, I added a picture of Faith's desk covered in treats!



     I didn't want everyone to miss the cuteness that is my little ones in their costumes!  Faith was Princess Tiana from "Princess and the Frog" and Charlie was a dragon.  My mother made Faith's costume for last years Halloween and it was so beautiful Faith asked to wear it again.  Color me surprised because she never misses the chance to get a new dress up outfit.  The weather was fantastic, but light jackets were needed.  We went with the usual gang of kids and parents, the three cute boys across the street and two little girls we met through the boys.  We walk around our neighborhood and stock up on as much candy as we can.  For most of my childhood, at least the key trick-or-treating years, in Mass. and there are some key differences I've noticed.  For example, when the kids say trick-or-treat in Mass. it's more like a rhetorical comment, the adults should know that the main objective is to get as much candy as you can, and there really is no time for jokes.  I don't remember telling a single joke when I was a kid, but in Iowa every house wants a joke.  This is fun for the first few houses, but we have seven kids to get through here people, we don't have time for this!!!  I understand, you paid for the candy my child is getting for free, but please be happy with one or two kids giving you a laugh.
    Please enjoy these pictures of our Halloween festivities!
Open Up!!!

Our pumpkins!  Can you guess which one is Mommy and
 Faith's and which one is daddy and Charlie's?

Faith at her class Halloween party



The parents and grandparents waiting across the street.


Mama and the Lil Dragon, Charlie



Boys across the street!

At the first house waiting in line to tell jokes

Daddy and Dragon

Thursday, November 3, 2011

My first post, so exciting!

This is my first post, which is very cool.  I had planned to start a blog in May because I will be traveling to Egypt for a study abroad program I was accepted into.  However, after doing some research I thought it would be cool to do a blog now.  My life is stressful, to say the least, and it gets so bad that at some points I feel like I might go crazy.
    I am a sophmore at Drake University with a major in Journalism, which is something I never thought I would be able to say.  That enough is time consuming, but combining that with having to work and raise two amazing children is insane.  People tell me often that they don't know how I do it, they would never be able to deal with it all, etc.  Before I just took the compliment, but never really felt that way, as if I were being given praise for nothing.  Although, recently, I have changed my thinking on how difficult balancing my roles will be.  Things at school are starting to get a lot more intense.  I've been given so many more commitments, like attending lectures, Greek life meetings, student events, etc. to write news stories and interview people. 
  Anyway, you get the picture, I AM STRESSED!  The most important thing I have realized is how I deal with the stress.  I have discovered that my stress starts to melt away the moment I see my two kids, Faith who is five and Charlie who is one.  I hope this blog will be able to document important things we do, special projects we do as a family, and places we go.  I want them to look back and know that just because I had them young doesn't mean that they held me back from whatever goals and dreams I had before they got here.  Sure, the path will be totally different from what I had in mind when I was in high school, but I will accomplish my goals because they are here.  They have become my biggest motivators in life, and thank God everyday for the plan he had for me.  I may not have understood it at first, but everyday it becomes clearer.

In a final note I want to mention my totally amazing husband, Dario, and how without him nothing I am doing right now would be possible.  He is so supportive and helpful, and I wouldn't be passing all my classes without him with me.  He is an incredible father to our little ones and I love him so much and can't thank him enough for how hard he works for our family.

P.S. If my writing starts to not make sense in this first post, it's because I pulled an all nighter last night to study for my sociology exam today, so I have been awake for 36 straight hours now.  Lots of pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks!